Sunflowers In Eau Claire, Wisconsin Will Make You Happy

 

 

We remember watching a news clip that has stuck with us about four years ago from Floyd Huppert of KARE 11 News in Minneapolis.  He regularly tells real life stories about people who are making our world a better place.  Trust us, you will want to watch this inspiring story that is less than 2 minutes long.

This is a love story about an Eau Claire, Wisconsin farmer named Don Jaquish who recently lost the love of his life to cancer.  His wife’s name was Babbette.  The depth of their love couldn’t easily be forgotten so he preserved her memory the best way he knew how. 

She loved flowers, specifically sunflowers.  They had recently started growing sunflowers to sell the seeds for charity.  

He had much bigger plans though.  How about 400 acres of sunflowers.  Sixty feet wide rows of sunflowers are planted for four miles on each side of Highway 85 just Southwest of Eau Claire.  These sunflowers are how he still expresses his love for her.  He wants everyone to remember how she would light up a room with happiness everywhere she went.  

 

 

Babbette’s Seeds Of Hope

 

 

 

Babbette was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma in 2006 and battled it for almost nine years.  Multiple Myeloma is a cancer that affects white blood cells called plasma cells in bone marrow.  One characteristic is that the cancer cells crowd out healthy cells.  

After Babbette was diagnosed they planted several hundred acres of sunflowers throughout their property.  After they started growing sunflowers Don had an idea.  He thought they should raise them to sell the seeds with proceeds going to cancer research and treatments.   

They had planned on selling the seeds just in their area but they realized they should set up an online store after people responded from all over the country.

Click here for Babbette’s Seeds Of Hope short 3 minute video to learn more.

 

 

Fun At The Farm

You will find many fun activities at the Babbette’s Seeds Of Hope farm.  As soon as you pull into the parking area you’ll see many antique tractors on the edge of the sunflower field.  Another fun option is taking a horse drawn wagon ride through the sunflower fields.  Sometimes they even pull the wagons with antique tractors.

You should also try the sunflower maze.   They typically bloom in August so you can go to the sunflower maze first then to a corn maze later in Fall.

Sunflowers only bloom for about two weeks.  This is why he plants two sections at different times so there will be about four weeks of blooms for people to enjoy.

Babbette’s normally has concessions and games too but because of the 2020 COVID outbreak they decided not to this year.

We have found Eau Claire, Wisconsin is a neat town with lots of interesting things to do.

New Glarus, Wisconsin is another fun town to visit.  Take our advice and don’t skip the bakery.

 

 

Sunflower Facts

 

 

 

Although sunflowers are known as the “happy” flower, they are so much more than a beautiful flower to brighten your day.  

Sunflowers only bloom for about 2 weeks so your window of opportunity is small.

Younger sunflower heads face the east in the morning then follow the sun west as it moves during the day.  As the flower matures it stiffens and stays facing east.

There are two kinds of seeds.  Solid black seeds are used for oils and striped seeds are used for snacks. Check your seeds next time you have some for a snack.

Watch them harvest their sunflower seeds here.

The heads of a sunflower make a great scrubbing pad after the seeds are gone.

You should probably cut your fresh sunflowers for your vase in the morning.  The flowers could wilt if you cut them in the afternoon.

Kansas is known as the sunflower state even though North Dakota is the leading state for sunflower production.

Each head may contain 1000 to 2000 seeds.

It’s the only flower with the word flower in the name.

There are about 70 species that are usually classified into two types, tall and dwarf.  Tall can grow up to 16 feet with a world record of over 30 feet.  Dwarf usually grow only about 2 feet. 

You should check out tall sunflowers if you are a birdwatcher since birds like tall sunflowers.

Sunflowers naturally decontaminate soil from toxins.  Some more commonly known toxins are uranium, lead and arsenic.  Sunflowers were used after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster to absorb toxins in a pond.  They were also used after the Fukushima, Japan nuclear power plant incident in similar ways.   

Sunflowers are native to North America but can now be found around the world. 

 

Final Thoughts About Visiting Babbette’s Seeds Of Hope Maze Of Sunflowers

 

We are very glad we visited Babbette’s Seeds Of Hope. From our visit we have learned not only about sunflowers but also about a local way to support charities for cancer research. As you can also see, Babbette’s is pet friendly. Madibelle really enjoyed her visit!

Check out our article about a giant pumpkin festival here for another great Fall adventure! 

Thank you for following along with our adventures from Small Town Plus Size!  Please follow us on social media for even more.

Tom and Kristi